Pied Cow Coffeehouse

10/01/09

Great place to hang out and drink tes

by jessikook at Citysearch

This place is one of my favorite places to go in Portland. It's got a calming environment, both inside and outside. There teas are great- they serve tea traditionally, my favorites are the kava and matte. They also have great dessert and great beer, although I think they took Hair of the Dog off the menu which was my favorite. I read a bad review above about one of the servers, but every time I've been there the staff was very accommodating. It's a great place to study or hang out with a few friends.

• Pros: ambiance
• Cons: doesn't open until evening

08/19/09

What ever happened?

by lackofstyle at Citysearch

Years ago I used to go to this place all the time. It was a great place to enjoy a relaxed vibe and have a good dessert. Now it seems to have completely lost its way. The food and drink have taken a huge dive and the service is HORRIBLE. This place seems to be resting on its laurels and now seems to depend on its fading, lackluster ambiance to propel people past the fact that no one around here seems to care anymore. The whole place has the feel of an aging beatnik talking about that one time he shared a joint with a roadie from the Grateful Dead.

• Pros: nostalgia
• Cons: everything else

06/10/09

10 dollars for saltine crackers:

by Happywhenwetalk at Citysearch

I JUST got back from taking my friend who is visiting to The Pied Cow. I went for the 16 dollar hookah (YEESH!) and she was hungry so she ordered "The Salmon Plate". We had this tall and unhappy waiter w/ a sunken face and slicked back black hair who was extremely unpleasant from the start. Anyways, her salmon plate was (not joking) a relatively small portion of cold salmon w/ mounds and mounds of cream cheese, slices of cucumber and a HUGE amount of those white saltine crackers that they sell at Safeway. Do you know which crackers I'm talking about? Okay, so, my friend tells the waiter that what she ordered isn't exactly what she was expecting. Which can happen, it's not entirely her fault. Who will honestly eat that many saltine crackers and cream cheese for 10 dollars anyways? He looks at her blankly and says in the most rude and obnoxious way that he has no idea what she was expecting b/c that IS the salmon plate. Well, duh, mister. Anyways, she tells our waiter that she was expecting something a little different; something possibly hot. Then he said to her in this horribly rude and unattractive way that "IT'S THE SMOKED SALMON!" After he said that I was like "You don't need to be rude to her" and then he looked at me in a horrible way and said to me loudly that he's "JUST STATING THE FACTS!" I told him that that doesn't mean he's not being rude to her and that her plate is just a plate of saltine crackers. Which, if he's stating the facts, the menu would've said "Salmon plate w/ saltine crackers for 10 dollars!". He took her plate and literally smashed her silverware into the wash-bin that was outside. He then came back and told me in front of everyone that I "shouldn't be complaining for food I'm not paying for!" and I said "Hey! Honestly? Honestly? Chill out!" and he said "No, nope! Don't talk to me." My waiter told me to not talk to him?

He then preceded to hang out in front of the window that was nearest to where we were sitting outside and stare at me. He also purposefully talked about us in front of us to his coworkers. I'm not kidding! I'm not a crazy lady, and I'm a pretty nice girl. This guy is insane! He refused to help us as customers, smashes silverware in front of us AND other people sitting outside and he tells me that I shouldn't be complaining? I feel that if we didn't have this horrible confrontation w/ him my friend never would've been able to order anything else.

Okay, so if you don't want to be overcharged for food/hookah and have undefinable service from an ugly waiter, don't go to The Pied Cow.

• Pros: It's on Belmont?
• Cons: Horrible, Horrible service.